The Kordahi affair: About freedom of expression, sovereignty and absurd wars

On Friday Veteran Lebanese media figure George Kordahi presented his resignation as Minister of information to the Lebanese President Michel Aoun ending a month-long diplomatic crisis with Gulf countries over his statements concerning the war in Yemen.

On 25 October, Al Jazeera Network’s “People’s Parliament” web show released its episode with guest George Kordahi. The episode was filmed on 5 August before Kordahi was appointed as the information minister in Lebanon representing Marada Movement and approved by Iran-backed-Hezbollah.

George Kordahi presented his resignation to Lebanese President 
Michel Aoun in Beirut on Friday "Lebanese Presidency)

During the show, Kordahi said that the war in Yemen was absurd that must stop and that Iran-backed-Houthis were defending themselves against foreign attacks.

The statements angered Saudi officials and considered it another provocation by Hezbollah and its men in Lebanon while the Saudi people considered an insult from Kordahi who made a name for himself after presenting “Who wants to be a millionaire?” on Saudi-owned MBC. “He was already renowned veteran radio and TV host in Lebanon and French Arab radio service Monte Carlo, but he reached stardom when he presented the famous Arabic version of the show for years”

Forget freedom of expression, forget that those statements were recorded before becoming a minister and do not represent the view of the Lebanese cabinet or its official stance.

Still, Saudi Arabia demanded either Kordahi resigns or Lebanon can suffer alone financially and politically. A couple of Gulf countries supported the Kingdom in its demand.

George Kordahi refused to resign then and it was considered a matter of national sovereignty.

After more than a month and forgetting about the whole affair, we knew on Thursday that Kordahi was among to resign.

“My decision to resign was a request by the French president and that there is no foreign intervention that forced me to resign,” Kordahi told Al-Mayadeen TV channel on Friday in Beirut after presenting his resignation to the Lebanese president in some irony.

وزير الإعلام اللبناني #جورج_قرداحي في لقاء تلفزيوني:

أقول للقوى التي دعمتني شكراً على دعمها ونحن نهدف جميعاً لمصلحة #لبنان، "قراري بالإستقالة كان بطلب من الرئيس الفرنسي وليس هناك أي تدخل خارجي أجبرني على ذلك" pic.twitter.com/0vbJfKJ6le

— The Saudi Post (@TheSaudi_post) December 3, 2021

The veteran Arab TV figure admits that he resigned due to a French request but at the same time he denies that there are foreign pressures on him!!

The last time I checked Emmanuel Macron is a foreign man who leads a foreign country!!

What happened to George Kordahi was another evidence of how national sovereignty in Lebanon has disappeared those foreign countries determine which ministers remain or resign.

France, the former colonist of Lebanon and Saudi Arabia with its economic power intervening to remove ministers.

French President Emmanuel Macron intervened and pushed for his resignation per the request or rather condition of Saudi Arabia to end this tension.

MBS and Macron on Saturday in Riyadh "SPA"

Macron visited Saudi Arabia and met with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman “MBS” aka its de facto ruler as part of his Gulf tour on Saturday.

Lebanon was the main topic discussed in the talks and there was a conference call between MBS, Macron and current Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

FYI the French president is the first European/Western president to visit Riyadh and met MBS in Saudi Arabia after the assassination of late Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi officers in Turkey in 2018.

Back to Kordachi and the web show that caused all. Ironically what he said in his interview concerning the war in Yemen aside from the Houthis was true and it is actually more than an absurd war, it is a cruel bottomless proxy war.

The big irony is that those Yemen war statements were not the truly alarming or troubling statements in the show.

Kordahi supports the Al-Assad regime openly in Syria and believes that a military coup would put Lebanon on the right track because it needs a military strongman!!

Nobody brought those trouble statements; it is all about Yemen bottomless war.

Some considered Kordahi’s resignation on Friday as a victory for Saudi Arabic, which is untrue. Nobody won in this pathetic power show off. It is a fake victory compared to a disastrous situation in Yemen.

At least 10,000 children have been killed so far in Yemen since the beginning of the war according to UNICEF and at least 1.7 children and their families have been internally displaced.

2.3 million children under the age of five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021 according to UNICEF

Lebanon is still a mess and Iran is its still biggest player thanks to Hezbollah and Amal movement as well as the corrupted political class

In the end, Kordahi resigned but Lebanese and Yemeni citizens are still suffering.